"Everybody say 'Cheese'!" The entire student body was gathered outside for a school photo (pictured above in the center of the banner), when in fact it was a surprise Color War breakout!

Quickly bright yellow and deep purple t-shirts emblazened with the words "Boker" (morning) and "Erev" (evening) were thrown out of the second floor windows. The students were divided into two teams. Captains Atara Aroll ('05) and Zach Cohen ('06) headed up Erev / Purple and Sahar Zaghi ('06) and Dovi Lamet ('05) lead Boker / Yellow. Color War and all its amazing activities were only made possible by the hard work and lack of sleep of these four spirited captains.

The musical and artistic talents of WYHS students really came to the fore during Color War. Between the cheers, songs, music, banners and decorations, color war this year was packed full of ruach (spirit) by both teams. Each team had many cheers and short songs relating to their theme, with cheering itself being one of the day's activities.

The Banners displayed amazing artistic ability and were the product of hard work by both teams. Boker's theme, "Hashem boker tishma koli"- "In the morning G-d hears my voice" (Psalms), presented the sun rising over a Judean city with Abraham in the foreground. Each sunrise hearlds the new opportunities which each of us have every day to reach our potential. Erev's theme, "Adam lomeid rov chachamato balyla" "Most knowledge is acquired at night" (Maimonides), portrayed a man learning Torah under the night sky, bringing together spirituality and nature. Both banners are truly pieces of art that will forever be treasured by our school and will hang proudly in our halls.

Team Songs are a major part of color war. These ballads are an expression of each team's theme and personality. Though a small group of students writes each, the entire team has to participate in singing. The songs were accompanied by the team bands, which were formed earlier that day. Both songs were flawlessly performed and accurately expressed each team's theme.

One of the closing activities of the day was Battle of the Bands, a new, thrilling competition between the bands of each team. Four students from each team joined together to create bands, using instruments such as the keyboard, drums, saxophone, and several types of guitars to put together a song, (without vocals), to perform in front of the entire school.

The teams were given a choice of three songs from which to create their own rendition. Both teams performed the song "General" (by Dispatch), with team Erev combining all three songs in a "General Remix". Both bands practiced the entire day, adding to the cheering, spirited atmosphere of WYHS Color War.

Even though Color War is a break from the normal academic routine, no day can be a vacation from Torah learning. After Tefillah in the morning, Boker and Erev broke up into shiurim with teachers, learning Hilchot Purim, in honor of Shushan Purim Katan the day on which Color War took place.

The second half of Color War began after we returned from Loggers Run Park in the early afternoon.

After lunch and Mincha, a representative from each team gave a Dvar Torah; Kayla Kowal ('06) for team Boker, and Jessica Ramirez ('05) for team Erev. Kayla spoke about morning being a time of brightness, clarity, excitement and happiness and connected it to the month of Adar and the upcoming Purim holiday. Jessica eloquently spoke about faith in G-d, even in times of darkness.

Several new activities were introduced to this year's Color War, such as Simon Says and the Last Comic Standing, which were both very amusing. Ms. Dana Sardano, the girls' 'Simon', and Rabbi Chaim Lanner, the boys 'Simon', led both the games creatively. "Simon says "do jazz fingers", "take off your socks and shoes", "dance Ring around the Rosie", "sing Hamalach Hagoel."

It was hilarious watching everyone struggling to do crazy moves as the teachers attempted to trip up the students. Although Ms. Sardano was fast and tricky, Meira Pearl ('07) from the Boker team triumphed. In the boy's game, Shai Barel ('07) of Erev, as much as Rabbi Lanner tried to trip him up, emerged victorious.

For the The Last Comic Standing activity, four members from each team (one from each grade), were chosen to do a standup comedy. Mrs. Rainbeau and Mrs. Greer, who led the activity, had each contestant pick a question out of a hat. The contestant was required to talk about the topic in a comedic way for a full minute.

All the contestants including winner Shana Maikhor ('05) got the crowd laughing with their comedic talent. Topics like "Who's the scariest teacher at WYHS", "What does Terri do on the weekends", "What do they talk about at faculty meetings", "Who's better- Batman or Superman?"- were just some of the monologues presented. Each contestant did a great job with his or her unique style, and "rocked the house" with laughter.

Junkyard Wars was a competition which challenged each team's ingenuity and design ability. Each team was given raw materials (straws, rubber bands, etc.) to create a contraption that would cushion an egg to enable it to be dropped from a height. Both apparatuses survived a drop of five feet, but neither egg remained whole when dropped from the second floor of the high school.

Later in the afternoon, the teams gathered into their respective rooms for a team meeting and a planning session for The Amazing Race. When both teams were stationed in their spots- the race began!!

The Amazing Race was unbelievably intense. Teamwork was crucial, every second counted and every person mattered. The two teams were neck to neck as they raced through each activity. It began with a race around the school and culminated with a race around the Lake- which Sarah Bensimon ('05) and Josh Goldberg ('06) won for the Boker team!

After the exhausting race, band, ballad and banner presentations, and Maariv, the students went to the ballroom for dinner and the day's long awaited finale- American Gladiator.

The school rented a huge inflatable arena, which took up almost the entire ballroom. This bounce house like structure with 3 foot high walls around its perimeter had two stands in center, about 3 feet from each other, upon which competitors stood. Each competitor was given a long, padded jousting pole.

The object of the game is to knock the opponent off his stand, sending him falling onto the bound house floor.

The crowd went wild for these exciting two out of three face offs; team captains Zach Cohen vs. Dovi Lamet, faculty members Rabbi Horowitz vs. Rabbi Lanner, Rabbi Sugerman vs. executive director Shimmie Kaminetsky, school custodian Terri Niren vs. school president Jake Singer, freshmen Michael Schiff vs. Daniel Shimansky, brothers juniors Jordan vs. Dov Lieber, and titans Michael Hande ('05) vs. Mordechai Siev ('06).

At the end of American Gladiator, the victorious Color War team was announced- Erev! The teamwork and excitement which every participant displayed as well as the tremendous efforts of Rabbi Spodek and Mrs. Horowitz made the Color War '05 the BEST COLOR WAR EVER!!!